Nathan MacKinnon, the first overall pick for the Colorado Avalanche, and the Edmonton Oilers’ Mark Arcobello both face the same issues, which is that they’re keeping pace with points but not in the Calder glamor stat of goals. Although that’s not always the predictor of who wins the Calder, as Nail Yakupov can attest.

On The Rise:Seth Jones, Nashville Predators. He’s leading all rookies in ice time with 24:42, and playing well enough to spark conversations about making the U.S. roster for Sochi.

On The Decline: Sven Baertschi, Calgary Flames. Monahan has stolen his spotlight, and his one goal in 10 games earned him a healthy scratch recently.

Lurking: Hampus Lindholm, Anaheim Ducks. The defenseman is a plus-11 and skating 19:40 per night. He won’t have the offensive numbers to blow away voters, but could get the Jonas Brodin hype from last season’s Calder race.

Missing In Action: Mikhail Grigorenko, Buffalo Sabres. One assist in 12 games for the Russian rookie, with his ice time dipping below 10 minutes in five of them.

What The USA Today Voters Think:

Tomas Hertl (8)

51

Sean Monahan

35

Seth Jones (1)

24

Alex Chiasson (1)

20

Mark Arcobello (1)

11

Nathan MacKinnon

7

Torey Krug

5

Hampus Lindhom

4

Olli Mattta

3

Aleksander Barkov

3

Jacob Trouba

1

Frederik Andersen

1

Hertl is still the frontrunner. My ballot:

Tomas Hertl

Seth Jones

Sean Monahan

Alex Chiasson

Aleksander Barkov

I think Jones is right there with Hertl as far as impressive rookie starts go. Barkov, my Calder pick, is making the most of the talent around him like Jonathan Huberdeau did last season in winning the Trophy.